COMMERCE CITY, CO – FEBRUARY 5: Recruit Elizabeth Klovstad uses her elbow to strike a pad being held Officer Jason Gilmore while training in the defensive tactics building at Flatrock Regional Training Center in Commerce City, Colorado on February 5, 2014. The new Flatrock Regional Training Center opened in August, bringing police and SWAT training under one roof. (Photo by Seth McConnell/The Denver Post)

Adams County Sergeant Paul Gregory ordered two women to slowly come out of a parked white SUV, with their hands up. The women looked at him innocently and smiled as they eased out from their seats and sidestepped around the car toward Gregory.

“Put your hands up,” he ordered again.

This time, the women ducked down and sprinted in two directions to take cover behind the car. One woman reached around to her back pocket for a small black handgun, and Gregory opened fire.

One woman hiding behind the car was struck squarely in the shoulder. The scene was replayed three times by Adams County Sergeant Alex Kondos on the Force Option Simulator so that Gregory could analyze his shot inside the Flatrock Regional Training Center for law enforcement officers on Feb. 5.

“This program is really amazing because officers can actually interact with it and give it verbal commands,” Division Chief Michael McIntosh said. “It allows us the opportunity to really coach the officer through what it is that they’re seeing.”

In a small, darkened room inside the 10,000-square-foot central building of 399-acre compound, Kondos picked another virtual field scenario for Gregory to tackle. This time, three robbers were projected onto the white wall. They exited the store to meet Gregory outside.

The sergeant lifted his gun, loaded with carbon dioxide, and ordered the simulated criminals to put their hands on their heads. All three drew weapons, and all three were vanquished. Kondos and Gregory zoomed in on the small red targets that indicated where each suspect was shot.

“There are more than 500 scenarios that officers and recruits can go through,” McIntosh said. “Not every one of them is a shoot scenario. That’s not real life.”

He said what he likes most about the Force Option Simulator is its versatility and functionality. Other similar police and SWAT virtual shooting programs didn’t let the officers choose a less lethal weapon from their standard tool belt for practice.

McIntosh handpicked the $37,000 state-of the-art virtual field program for the Flatrock Regional Training Center about five years ago while he was touring the country’s law enforcement training facilities to gather the best technology to build the best training facility possible.

The Flatrock Regional Training Center at 23600 E. 128th Ave. in Commerce City is the first law enforcement training complex in Colorado to offer firearms, driving and defensive tactics training in one centralized location.

Adams County paid $4 million for the land and for the facility in 2007, but construction didn’t begin until late 2012 because of an unstable economy. Less than 12 months after the project finally broke ground, the $10.2 million facility opened in August. The entire compound will total about $65 million when it is fully built out.

“Prior to Flatrock, Colorado law enforcement officers had to travel to multiple locations to receive that specialized training needed to succeed on the job,” Adams County Sheriff Doug Darr said. “This facility provides the tools officers need to perform their jobs safely and effectively.”

The facility houses two 50-yard tactical shooting ranges, a full artillery storage and repair room, a 1.3-mile highway course and a six-acre flattop maneuvering “skills pad” as well as several classrooms for recruits working through their academy training.

The complex is available for use by all law enforcement agencies from all over the country. McIntosh equipped the facility to be a federal training center, which is the type of crowd he’d like to bring in.

The Flatrock Regional Training Center today only takes up 90 of its nearly 400 acres. On McIntosh’s wish list for future amenities is an obstacle course, a rifle range and a mock village that officers can use to prepare for home searches.

“There’s no better training than some of the things we have here,” Gregory said. “The officers who work here in the facility have the best office, hands down. It’s an incredible place.”

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